Lessons from SNAP Summit: FailCon ’09
Today was late 2009 edition of the SNAP Summt, FailCon ’09. For once people were openly talking about what didn’t work so well for them and how they’ve integrated those lessons into future strategies to avoid fail. I think the topics can really be boiled down to:
- Metrics everywhere. How do you know if you’re failing (or succeeding) unless you measure? Be sure to develop a toolkit of monitoring tools to see how things are going—and watch everything. e.g. new user acquisition, funding, downloads, etc.
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Be nimble like a ninja.
When you sense something isn’t working, change and change quickly. (And of course: measure.) Rapidly iterate, release, fail fast, and so forth until you find what is working. Make the hard decisions to change your product, your team. -
Fear not.
Have fear but don’t let it stop you from trying new things and taking risks. The greatest innovations often happen through ignorance or not listening to your critics. Oh, and don’t read comments on TechCrunch and VentureBeat. -
Have a vision and listen to your gut.
Don’t sell out if it means you won’t accomplish your goal. If you’ve got a good feeling about a direction and you think it can be a serious win, think twice about getting locked into situations where your product becomes beholden to client needs. -
Momentum counts for a lot. Pick your co-founder(s) and team carefully.
Every team runs into problems but if you all are not motivated to work through the difficulties you will likely fail. Pair with people that see your vision and have the drive to really make all of the above points work. One financial tip: options w/ a vesting schedule are a good way to members are there for the big goal and not just a paycheck.
Oh, and some notes on UI vs. core app stuff from Brandon Schauer at Adaptive Path: http://vimeo.com/7279555